It is known that the heating and vaporization of gasoline and other types of liquid hydrocarbon fuels can increase efficiency or improve the performance of internal combustion engines. Arrangements for accomplishing such objectives are generally characterized by their complexity and relatively high expense. Reliability is also a problem and devices of this type have not found widespread acceptance for these and other reasons.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,814, issued May 14, 1996, discloses an apparatus and method for supplying fuel to an internal combustion engine. In the system disclosed in this patent a liquid hydrocarbon fuel is injected into a fuel chamber to form a mixture of vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and heated exhaust gases. The mixture is passed through a passageway and further heated by non-contacting exhaust gases from the internal combustion engine to reform the mixture of vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and heated exhaust gases in the passageway.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,188, issued May 5, 1998, also discloses an apparatus and method for supplying fuel to an internal combustion engine. In the system disclosed in this patent a liquid hydrocarbon fuel is injected into a fuel chamber heated by electrical means to form a mixture of vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and heated exhaust gases. The mixture is passed through a passageway heated by electrical means and further heated to reform the mixture of vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and heated exhaust gases in the passageway.